Nightmares Redux
by shygirl1
Summary: AU. They can't quite have normal, can they? MaxZack.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

Notes: I couldn't resist doing one more story in this AU series:) The fic itself takes place after "What's Next?" but the entire prologue is a flashback so it's in italics with thoughts and things like that in regular type. The prologue takes place before season 1 of the show (March of 2018).

_Daniel Warren, Colonel in the United States Army and the director of Manticore's facility in Syracuse, slammed his hand on his desk in frustration._ How is this possible? How in the goddamn hell could this have happened?_ He took a deep breath and picked up the phone at his desk. He speed dialed a number and spoke a few words to the person on the other end before he turned to his computer, opened up a program, and typed in a few commands. Only minutes later, two windows popped up on the screen. One of them showed Colonel Lydecker in his own office in Gillette and the other showed Elizabeth Renfro in her office in Seattle._

"_Warren, what is going on?" Lydecker asked immediately._

He might have his faults, but at least he always gets to the point._ "Remember the mission to check out that abandoned complex in Poland?" Warren asked. "I just got a report transmitted here from X6-543, one of the members of the unit that was sent from my facility on the assignment." The expression on Warren's face was grim. "The unit was ambushed. Seventeen out of eighteen members killed. The only reason that 543 knows what had happened is through the radio link that their communications specialist set up at their med station prior to heading to the primary target."_

_Renfro raised an eyebrow. "What did happen?"_

"_X6 Unit 7 entered the main building in the complex as planned," Warren said. "Once they had made their way into the building, a group of enemy soldiers ambushed them. According to the transmissions that 543 caught, they appeared to have been transgenics."_

"_What?" Lydecker said angrily, though the actual level of his voice remained fairly low. "Transgenics?"_

"_That apparently moved with the speed, agility, and strength similar to that of the top-rated X6s," Warren continued. "They wiped out all sixteen X6s that entered the building before they began searching the nearby area and found the communications specialist of the unit, 753, and took him out. When 543 heard that happen on the radio, he took his vital equipment and managed to get out of there before the enemy could have found him as well. We're lucky that X6-753 had the foresight to set up the link to automatically send everything that his equipment was recording to the computer behind at the main camp otherwise we would know nothing. X6-543 is sending us those files and our technicians here are reviewing them as they are being received."_

"_I see," Renfro said. "Did your X6 unit make any mistakes as they entered the building? It could have been a slip-up…"_

_Warren was furious. "You're blaming me for this, Renfro? Let me take you back to when we were discussing which unit was going to be sent on this mission. Lydecker wanted to send that one X6 unit of yours, I believe it was Unit 4, on the mission because they were the best qualified for it out of all of the X6 units at all three facilities but because you are in this permanent pissing contest with Lydecker, you _insisted_ that we send my Unit 7 on the assignment and for whatever reason that day, I decided to agree with you and now look what's happened!"_

"_That's enough from both of you," Lydecker snapped. "No good can come out of this arguing. The most that we can do at this point in time is to wait for the technicians in Syracuse to finish analyzing the information that is being sent from Poland. Once that has been completed, we will determine what is to be done with regards to these apparent transgenics. Warren, what is the current status of X6-543?"_

"_543 is currently en route to a safe location in the Czech Republic," Warren replied. "He started the transmissions from his unit's original accommodations in Poland, but the equipment that he is using is portable so the transmissions will not be affected in any way. He will be remaining at the safe location until evening local time before he heads back here."_

_Lydecker nodded. "Very well. As soon as you receive the final analysis from the techs, call us immediately." His window on Warren's computer screen went dark and a moment later, after a dirty look from Renfro that Warren wasn't sure who it was directed at, Renfro's window went dark as well. Warren closed the program and shook his head._

What a disaster,_ he thought._ Lost an entire damn unit. _He snorted._ Lydecker lost one unit because those X5s ran, I've lost a unit because those X6s got ambushed…looks like it's your turn coming up, Renfro! _He sighed and sat back and waited for the reports to come in._

TBC


	2. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

Notes: This part (and the rest of the fic) takes place sometime about a year after "What's Next?" ended.

"I can't believe that they're in California," Max said as she, Zack, and Gabrielle walked back into their house on a humid August evening. "It already seems so quiet in here."

"Yeah, tell me about it," Gabrielle said. "I'm almost expecting them to come sliding down the banister with the one who got down first trying to yank the other one off." She grinned. "Do you think that they'll be homesick already and call us or will they be all manly about it and wait awhile before they give a peep?"

"They'll be calling us later tonight," Zack said. "I bet they'll wake me up in the process."

Max grinned. "No doubt about it. So, what do you guys want to do about dinner?"

"As long as it involves not cooking," Gabrielle said. She saw the look that Zack was giving her and she sighed and fought the urge to roll her eyes. "Dad, I'm the only one in this family that can actually cook and we've been on the road for hours. I'm not in the mood to do it."

"Good thing that we're here, then," a cheerful male voice said from behind the door. The three of them jumped and then Max went over to the door and opened it to see Alec, Brin, Anthony, and Jillian standing outside. Alec held up two plastic bags. "Brin thought that you guys wouldn't be in the mood to do anything special about dinner, so we thought that we'd bring some over. You wouldn't mind if we helped you with the food, do you?"

"You haven't done much with his manners," Max said to Brin as she took the bags from Alec and let them inside the house.

"There's only so much one can do with a man by the time that they're an adult," Brin replied. "Thanks for letting us stay for dinner, Maxie."

"No problem," Max said. "It's starting to feel a little lonely here already."

"If there's anybody that knows the feeling, it's us," Brin said sympathetically. "At least Gabrielle's going to school close by and living at home. Since Anthony moved into his own apartment last month, it will seem that much empty inour house when we have to take Jillian to school."

Zack nodded. "When are you going to be starting, Jillian?"

"Next week," Jillian said. "I can't wait to go. A lot of my friends from high school are going to be there with me. It'll be great."

"Two more weeks for me," Gabrielle said.

"Look at the big senior," Anthony teased.

"Look who's talking, dumbass," Gabrielle retorted. "When you started your senior year last year, you were walking around like you thought that you were the king of the world or something like that. You've got room to talk."

"Stop the arguing," Zack said. Gabrielle and Anthony immediately grew quiet and he smiled a little. "That's better."

Brin smiled as she poked her head into the living room. "Besides, dinner's on the table. We brought sushi, Gabby."

"Awesome," Gabrielle said. "Thank you, Aunt Brin."

"It's a good thing that Jeff and Kylie aren't here," Alec remarked as the seven of them sat down around the table and passed around the food. "Kylie would inhale all of this within seconds." He popped a piece of tuna roll into his mouth and quickly ate it. "I called him this morning to invite the two of them over to our place for dinner, but he said that he said that he just wanted to stay home with Kylie for dinner since Becky had to leave last night to do that lecture series in Colorado."

"I hate giving lectures and speeches," Max grumbled. "I remember they asked me to do a few the first couple of years after the Familiars went down. Just clean up really nice, put on a cheesy smile, and start running your mouth off. Sometimes it wasn't so bad, but there were a few times when it seemed like it was too damn fake."

"Better you than Zack," Brin pointed out. "There is no way that I could ever see him giving a lecture on anything unless it was a briefing before a mission."

"You nailed that one right on the head," Zack admitted. They continued to eat and talk animatedly. When they had finally finished, Gabrielle, Anthony, and Jillian went upstairs to Gabrielle's room while the others remained downstairs.

"Ooooh, you're letting a boy into your room," Anthony teased. "What will your daddy do to me when he finds out?"

"Very funny and the answer to your question is twist you in so many directions that by the time that he's done with you, you'll look like a deformed piece of Silly Putty," Gabrielle said. "You don't think that he'd actually do that? Do you remember that guy that I'd dated for a few months last year, the X9?"

Anthony thought about it for a few moments. "He was that really tall guy with the freckles, right?"

"Yeah, that was Robin," Gabrielle said. "The night before I broke up with him, he took me home from the party that we had gone to and he came inside the house with me. Mom was out-of-town with your mom, Aunt Jondy, Aunt Rena, Aunt Jace, and Aunt Syl on a girls-only weekend and Dad, Derek, and Jordan were upstairs sleeping or so I thought. So I told Robin to wait for me in the living room while I ran upstairs to my room for a second. Derek was having trouble sleeping that night and he heard me in my room and went in to talk with me and I guess Robin had gotten impatient so he came upstairs after me and got annoyed when he saw that I was talking with my brother and he started to get in both my face and Derek's. I wasn't in the mood for that kind of crap and I asked Robin to leave and that I would call him the next day. Robin got pissed and told me no, and I should mention that he wasn't exactly polite about it, and then that pissed Derek off and he told Robin to shut the hell up and not to talk to me like that. Robin punched Derek and then Derek punched Robin right back and I was about to jump into it to join Derek in beating the shit out of Robin when Robin was yanked back. Derek and I looked up and there was Dad. I've got to hand it to my father. He gave Robin a chance to explain himself but Robin ran his mouth off and called both Derek and especially me some choice names right to Dad's face and then…to make a long story a little shorter, we gave him an ice pack, dropped him off at the emergency room at Harbor Lights, I returned his car to him the next day when I went to his place to break up with him, and Robin left me and the rest of my family alone after that." She smirked. "X9s apparently don't heal quite as fast as X5s, X6s, and X8s do, so he looked like he'd had the crap kicked out of him for a couple of days." She sighed. "As much as I rag on the twins, they really are great. Derek would stand up for me like that a billion times more if he had to and so would Jordan. I miss them already."

"I know how you feel," Anthony said sympathetically. He paused and then a wicked grin, identical to Alec's, spread across his face. "It's nice to know that deep down underneath the badass, there's a girl there. I guess that I really shouldn't judge a book by its cover. I mean, just because you don't get all weepy—" He laughed when Gabrielle punched him. "Just trying to cheer you up, Gabby."

"You want to know what will cheer me up?" Gabrielle asked sweetly. "Seeing you run over by a Mack truck."

"And I want to see your mouth zippered one of these days," Anthony returned. "I know that you have a tiny bit of wolf DNA that you got from your dad, but I'm wondering just how much of it you have because you are really acting like one royal—"

"Continue with that line of thought and I'll cause enough brain damage to make having another line of thought difficult," Gabrielle said. "I mean, I know that you have enough trouble trying to have a single thought as it is, but this should make it even harder for you to use that squishy thing that's inside of your skull that you seem to like to call your brain. What do you think?"

"That's so generous of you," Anthony said. "If only there was something that I could do to return the favor."

"Are Anthony and Gabrielle fighting again?" Brin asked from the living room.

"Yeah, Mom. When do they ever not fight?" Jillian replied. She grinned and ignored the evil looks that both her older brother as well as Gabrielle were sending her way. "It was starting to get good, too."

"Unfortunately, we're going to have to cut the round short," Alec said. "We're going to get back home now. Get your behinds in gear."

"Okay, we're coming," Anthony said. He turned back to Gabrielle. "'Bye, Gabby. Try not to get too mushy-girly, okay?"

"Don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out," Gabrielle said, but then she smiled a little. "I'll see you around, Tony."

Anthony smiled. "Catch you later, Gabby." He and Jillian left. Gabrielle hung around in her room for a few minutes by herself before she went back downstairs and sat down next to Max on the couch.

"Where's Dad?" Gabrielle asked.

"He went into the home office to call Uncle Biggs to check up on things at work," Max said. "He should only be a few minutes unless something major happened while we were away." She smirked. "I heard you and Anthony arguing upstairs."

Gabrielle rolled her eyes. "The guy can be so damn annoying. I don't get it, Mom. He does actually act like a decent guy sometimes but most of the time…" She trailed off and made a motion as if she was strangling somebody. "At least I won't see him around campus when school starts back up in two weeks." She stood up. "Speaking of calling Uncle Biggs, I told Jade, Julia, Andrea, and everybody that I would call them when I got back to Seattle. Love you, Mom." She walked over to and then up the stairs.

"Biggs says everything's fine at the office. Nothing out of the ordinary happened while we were gone," Zack said as he entered the room. He sat down where Gabrielle had been. "She's doing some checking in of her own?"

"Yep," Max confirmed.

"I'm glad that we're back," Zack said, putting his arm around Max. "It's not that I mind going away and being on the road, but it's great to be home." He grinned. "It really does make a difference when you really have a home to get back to. I'll never take it for granted, no matter what."

"Neither will I," Max agreed. She leaned in to kiss Zack. He wrapped his arms around Max, not wanting to let her go. They only separated when they heard an aggravated sigh from upstairs.

"He is the biggest son-of-a—"

"Still complaining about him," Zack remarked.

"It takes her awhile to stop sometimes," Max conceded. She got a thoughtful look on her face. _I wonder if…_

"What are you thinking?" Zack asked suspiciously.

_Nothing that I should say within Gabby's hearing range._ "I'll tell you later," Max promised. She leaned back against her husband and smiled. "Trust me."

TBC


	3. Chapter 2

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

Notes: I went back and changed both the title of this fic as well as the designation of one of the transgenics that was mentioned in the prologue. I hope this doesn't confuse anybody.

"If we don't find a parking space, I will break somebody's neck," Max muttered as she scanned the parking lot early the following afternoon, trying to find a place to park her car.

Gabrielle looked amused. "I've got my nine-millimeter on me. Do you want to just use that?"

"Very funny," Max said. "I don't care that you have a license to use that thing or that your father taught you how to shoot when you were young. You know how I feel. As long as I'm around you, it's nothing short of life or death. Clear?"

"Crystal, Mom," Gabrielle said. "I know and I was just joking before." Max finally found a space and pulled into it. Gabrielle looked around and made a face when she saw how far back in the parking lot they were. "Maybe we should have taken our motorcycles here. We could have just chained them up over there near the front and if there's anybody who can ride and carry home whatever we're going to end up buying today, it'll be us."

"You make us seem like big mallrats," Max remarked. "I never liked shopping."

"Ditto," Gabrielle said. They left the car and headed towards the mall and went inside. "I'm starting to wish that I didn't decide to take that art history class as an elective for this semester. That book is so far on backorder at the bookstore at school that by the time that it won't be on the shelves there again until a week after classes start and I know that I'm going to need the book on the first day."

Max shrugged. "That's how things go sometimes, Gabby. Besides, you will actually be prepared for your first day of that class and most of the other students will probably waiting for that book to come into the bookstore instead of coming here or whatever and you'll be one up on them right from the start."

"You're starting to sound like Dad," Gabrielle said, amused.

"It's amazing what happens when you've known somebody for your entire life and have been married to said someone for the past twenty years," Max deadpanned. She smiled and laughed along with her daughter, but stopped when she nearly ran into somebody, only barely managing not to physically collide with the other person. "I'm sorry."

"Well, how about you watch where you are going, hmmm?" the other person replied in an accented voice. Max looked at the woman and immediately felt her hackles go up. The woman that she'd nearly collided with was about her age, maybe slightly older, and was glaring at Max.

"How about you watch your attitude, hmmm?" Max mocked. "In case you didn't notice, I was in the middle of a conversation with somebody else. What's your excuse?"

"I did nothing wrong," the woman insisted. She checked the watch on her left wrist, a bored expression on her face.

"Nice piece," Max conceded, looking at the watch herself. _That is a nice piece. Wide wristband for a woman's watch and leather at that, those actual diamonds surrounding the face…we're talking a bare minimum of two grand here._ "Where did you get that?"

"Not around here, that's for sure," the woman said snidely.

"I'm sorry, did something crawl up your rear end and die this morning?" Max asked sweetly.

The woman smirked. "You're a charming one, aren't you? No, nothing, as you put it, 'crawled up my rear end and died' today. I just happened to be standing here and minding my own business and you were the one that was not looking in front of you to see if there was anybody in your path. Do not blame me if you are not doing what you are supposed to be, hmmm?"

Max frowned. _Where the hell does this bitch get off and tell me what I should be doing? Like I ever took that from anybody past age nine._ A faint scent caught her nose and she managed not to make a face. _And on top of that, she does not smell right. She doesn't smell bad exactly, but it's definitely not right. I swear, some of these humans have biochemistry that's almost as weird as us._ "Listen, lady, I am a grown woman so you definitely do not have any right whatsoever to tell me what I should and shouldn't be doing. My husband sure as hell doesn't tell me what to do, much less a stranger that's as pleasant to deal with as a chewed up wad of gum that somebody stuck underneath a table. If you'll excuse me, I have better things to do than to deal with you. Do you get what I'm saying?"

"I get it," the woman said. She gave Max and Gabrielle a long look before she walked off. Max and Gabrielle waited for several moments before continuing on.

"That woman…" Max said. "Ugh. Some people really need to learn basic manners before going out in public. She'd fit in nicely with Alec's old crew." She frowned. "There was something about her, though, that didn't seem right. I couldn't and still can't put my finger on it. Damn. Did you get that vibe from her too, Gabby, or was it just in my whacked imagination?"

Gabrielle shook her head. "No, I was feeling that as well. I was fighting off the urge to show her how well Dad and Aunt Becky taught me martial arts the whole time that you were verbally beating her down." She shrugged. "There's not much that either of us can do about it. I wish there was."

"You and me both," Max assured her daughter. She took a deep breath and smiled. "How about we get that book of yours, then?"

"Yeah, let's get that over with," Gabrielle said.

Max laughed and followed Gabrielle to the book store. _Get that over with…I wish that I could have beaten the hell out of that freaking woman and had gotten that over and done with. Come on, Max, get over it. She was a bitch but she went on her own merry little way. End of story._

TBC


	4. Chapter 3

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

Notes: From this point on, Little Max (Jace's daughter) will be referred to as Maxine. Also, if anybody is wondering who Mitch is (he was mentioned before in the epilogue to "What's Next?" and in the first chapter of this fic), he is Biggs and Sasha's son that Sasha was pregnant with in "What's Next?", so he and Gabrielle are the same age.

"Before any of you can say anything, I can't give anybody a ride home tonight," Gabrielle said as she entered Crash that night. "Mom gave me a ride here because Uncle Zane is fixing my bike and it won't be ready until tomorrow morning." She sat down at the table with her cousins and friends. "I'm going to have to be the one asking for a ride back this time around."

Jackie shrugged. "No problem. You can catch a ride with Tracey and me. We grabbed Dad's car tonight."

"Uncle Wayne actually let you touch his car?" Maxine said skeptically.

"We're talking about my dad, Maxine, not Uncle Zane," Tracey said, laughing.

"True," Maxine conceded. She took a sip of her beer. "Still, I'm kind of surprised that he let you borrow his car."

"We share a car with Vincent and he took it out tonight to go out on a date with that crazy girlfriend of his," Jackie said. She made a face. "I don't know what he sees in her. That girl is a complete psycho. One time last when he brought her over to the house last March for a study date, I passed through the living room from the kitchen and I say hello to her and she flipped out and started to screech at me. Newsflash, honey: that nails-on-a-chalkboard voice is very painful to somebody like moi who has super-human hearing. She's been suckering my brother for six months now."

Gabrielle looked amused. "Compared to the twit that Jordan dated last February, she's nothing." She turned to face the entrance and smirked. "And speaking of twits, look which ones decided to grace us with their presences."

"I can see that you're in a good mood tonight," Anthony remarked. "What was slipped into her drink and who did it so I know the right person to thank?"

"Nice," Gabrielle said. "If your parents weren't as coordinated as I know that they are, I would swear that you were dropped on your head when you were a baby. What was it that made you so stupid, then?"

Mitch held a hand up. "Before this little session can go any farther, I see an unclaimed pool table over there. Who wants to play me?"

"I'll give it a go," Gabrielle said.

"I'll take the winner," Anthony said. He got up and followed Gabrielle and Mitch over to the pool table, earning him a slightly annoyed look from Gabrielle.

"I thought that you were taking the winner on?" Gabrielle asked.

"Doesn't mean that I can't stand here and watch," Anthony said cheerfully. He noticed how annoyed that Gabrielle was starting to get. _Okay, I don't really want to piss her off._ Anthony grinned and gestured to Mitch. "You know how much fun it is to watch ol' Mitch here go down in flames." His smile turned into one of relief and grew when he saw Gabrielle relax and grin herself.

"We'll see about that," Mitch said, rolling his eyes. He racked up the balls. "This is my lucky table. I own it."

"Oh?" Anthony said skeptically. "I don't see your name on it."

Gabrielle ducked underneath the table. "Nope, his name's not on the table. Your dad's name is on here, though, and this look's like Uncle Jeff's handwriting."

"Where?" Anthony asked curiously. He also poked his head underneath the table.

"Right over here," Gabrielle said, pointing to the inscription that she'd found. "'Site of Alec vs. Sketchy round 12, 9/2/20. Alec-12, Sketchy-0.'"

"Cool," Anthony said. "I've got to tell Dad that this is still here."

"I still would like to play a round of pool here," Mitch reminded them. "Can you lovebirds please get out from under the table?" He laughed when he saw the dirty looks that were being sent his way. "Oh, I'm sorry. Did I interrupt some kind of moment going there?"

"You didn't interrupt anything," Anthony said. He grabbed a cue and chalked it. He looked at Mitch and raised an eyebrow. "Well? You were saying that you wanted to play a round of pool?"

"Lets," Mitch said. He and Anthony began playing their game. Gabrielle watched interestedly until she saw something out of the corner of her eye and immediately ran to the door, giving the man that had just walked through a big hug.

"Case!" she squealed. "I didn't know that you would be in Seattle."

"Well, I had some time off from work and I thought I would use at least some of it to visit my dad," Case replied. "You're looking pretty good, little cousin. You're going back to school soon?"

"Yeah, in two weeks," Gabrielle said. "How long are you going to be in Seattle for?"

"At least a week," Case said. "It feels like forever since the last time that I was able to come back home and see everybody. Are your brothers still here or did they go down to school yet?"

"They're not here. You missed Derek and Jordan by almost a week," Gabrielle said.

"Damn," Case said. "Can you give me their number or numbers down in California?"

"Sure," Gabrielle said. "No problem."

"If it isn't my fellow half-sy," Maxine said teasingly. "How have things been going at your big engineering job, Case?"

"The usual," Case said. "What about you, Maxine, what have you…" Gabrielle smiled and, after giving Case a quick wave, walked back over to the pool table where Anthony and Mitch were finishing up their game.

"Sorry about that," Gabrielle said. "How's the game going?"

Mitch sank his final shot and smirked. "You're looking at the winner, babe. Start chalking up."

"Cool," Gabrielle said. She grabbed a pool cue and chalk and looked at Anthony curiously. "What's wrong? Pissed that Mitch beat you tonight?"

"A little," Anthony admitted. He glanced over at Case for a moment before shrugging. "No big deal." He managed a smile and pointed over to Mitch. "It's not like I've ever not lost to this bozo over here."

"Gee, thanks," Mitch said.

"Anytime, buddy," Anthony said. They both laughed. Gabrielle laughed as well, but she gave Anthony another suspicious look before beginning her game with Mitch.

TBC


	5. Chapter 4

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

"What do you think?" Zack asked Max as they and Gabrielle were driving over to Wayne and Jondy's house the following night. "Do you want to get away for a couple of days, just the two of us?"

"Maybe," Max said. "We haven't been camping in ages." She grinned wickedly and lowered her voice. "Just the two of us…under the stars…"

"Mom," Gabrielle groaned. "Can you and Dad feel like you're the only two people in the general vicinity when you actually are the only two people in the general vicinity?"

Max smiled apologetically. "Sorry about that, baby girl."

"It's cool," Gabrielle said. "I guess it could have been worse." She sighed as Zack pulled over to the side of the road and stopped the car. "I don't know how we're going to cram everybody down in Uncle Wayne and Aunt Jondy's basement."

"Well, there'll only be ten of us," Max told her as they all got out of the car. "Believe me, I was wondering the same thing." They walked up to the front door and Max rang the doorbell. "Will you hurry up and answer the door already before I have to pick the lock?"

"Sorry, that'll take you a while. Mom and Dad put in a new lock last week." The door opened to reveal Wayne and Jondy's son, Vincent. "Hi, Aunt Max, Uncle Zack, Gabby. What's up?"

"Hello, Vincent," Zack said. "Where is everybody?"

"Down in the basement," Vincent informed him. "Everyone's here except for Aunt Rena and Natalie." He led them through the house to a set of steps and down into the basement, which Wayne had set up as an entertainment room years before. "Mom, Dad, they're here."

"Great," Wayne said. He got up from the couch that he'd been sitting on and walked over to Zack and gave him a quick hug. "Glad to see you guys. If you're hungry, we've got some grub around somewhere…Vinny, have you seen the pretzels or the potato chips around anywhere?"

"Yeah, Dad," Vincent said. He pointed over to where Alec and Anthony were sitting on another couch in the room. "Uncle Alec has the chips and Tony has the pretzels." He snickered at the annoyed look that Anthony sent him. "What? You're hogging them."

"Yeah, it's time you learned how to share." Gabrielle sat down next to Anthony, grabbed the bowl from him, and grabbed a handful of pretzels. "Thanks."

"Thank goodness that your mother taught you manners," Anthony muttered.

"You're welcome, Anthony," Max said pleasantly. Their heads turned back towards the stairs as they heard a noise from above. "Sounds like Rena and Natalie are here."

"Can you go answer the door again, Vincent?" Wayne asked.

Vincent let out a long-suffering sigh. "Why do I have to do everything around here?"

"Don't worry, you little smart mouth," Jondy said affectionately, getting up and ruffling her son's hair as she headed towards the stairs. "I'll go let them in." She left the room and returned several moments later, with Rena and Natalie, Rena and Zane's fourteen-year-old daughter, following her. "Looks like everybody's here now."

"I would say so," Rena said. "I'm sorry we're late."

"Not really," Jondy said. "Don't worry about it. Where are Zane and the boys? Why couldn't they make it tonight?"

"It's their guy's night out tonight," Rena said. "I have no idea what male bonding activity Zane could possibly do with a sixteen-year-old and an eleven-year old, but who knows?"

"I know I don't want to know," Natalie said as she plopped down on the floor, grabbing some chips from the bowl that Alec still held as she did so.

"You know, you guys all seem to get a lot of these ideas from me," Alec remarked. "I would have special guys only time with Tony here since he was little and I know that Wayne insisted on making this basement into an entertainment room after he and his little woman got this house well after Brin, Tony, and I moved into ours."

"Do you guys have to turn everything into a competition?" Max said, exasperated.

"Hey, neither of us said anything about this being a competition," Wayne said innocently. His eyes darted over towards Zack and he started to make another comment, but decided to keep his mouth shut at the last moment. "What do you guys want to watch? Do you want to see whatever's on the television or do you want to pop in a DVD? We've got plenty of those."

"I don't know," Zack said. "I'm personally in the mood for just seeing whatever happens to be on the TV. Max?"

Max shrugged. "I don't have that much of a clue on this one, myself. I guess I'm cool with whatever we figure out."

"I want to see a movie," Natalie declared.

"Boring," Vincent said. "I was just watching a DVD earlier today over at Jimmy's house. I want to see what's on the boob tube."

"You can do that any other time," Natalie said.

"So can you," Vincent countered.

"Time out," Alec said. "Let's try to work this out like we're at least semi-adults."

"That would exclude you from the conversation, wouldn't it?" Max said dryly.

"I am so wounded, Maxie," Alec said.

Gabrielle mentally rolled her eyes and tried to ignore the arguing of the others. "So, Tony, did you and your dad really have a guy's only night when you were little?"

"Oh yeah," Anthony confirmed. "We still do every Thursday night whenever it's possible. It started back a couple of months after we moved into our house when I was three years old. Mom and Dad told me that I was going to have a new little brother or sister six months from then and I got upset because I was worried that Mom and Dad wouldn't love me as much with a new baby around. Dad told me not to worry and that he and Mom would always love me and make time for me. Then he said to Mom not to bother us for the rest of the night unless we asked for her and he took me downstairs to our new entertainment room, sat me down in front of the TV down there, popped in one of his DVDs of pre-Pulse cartoons, parked himself next to me, and told me that we would do this every week if at all possible, just the two of us. And we did. It was mostly watching an hour or two of cartoons or movies, but sometimes he would take me out for something like ice cream or dinner."

"That's really sweet," Gabrielle said.

"Yeah, it is," Anthony agreed. He put his arm around Gabrielle's shoulders and grinned. "So, Gabby, how has life been treating you since we saw each other yesterday?"

"Just fine," Gabrielle said, smiling sweetly. "And I'm in a good mood, so I'm not going to bean you for putting your arm around me. I might even let you keep it there. But if you have any ideas of moving that arm south for the winter, your balls are going to be heading north for the summer. Get the picture?"

"As clear as crystal," Anthony assured her. He removed his arm, leaving Gabrielle feeling surprisingly disappointed until she saw her father looking at them out of the corner of his eye and pretending not to be doing that. She mentally sighed in semi-disgust.

"So, have we figured out what we're going to watch?" she asked.

"TV it is," Max said.

"Let's pop this thing on," Wayne said. He grabbed the remote control and turned the television on. "Looks like the news is on Channel Four right now." He frowned as the anchor talked on the program. "That's got to be horrible when a kid just disappears like that. Just eight years old."

"Yeah," Zack agreed. He took a look at the screen, which was showing a picture of the child in question. "Is it just me, or does that boy look familiar?"

"He kind of does," Max said.

"Maybe you guys saw him around somewhere in the street or something like that," Jondy suggested.

"Maybe," Zack echoed. They sat around uncomfortably for several moments. "So…"

"One step ahead of you," Wayne said as he flipped to another channel.

"For once in his life," Rena remarked, smirking as she got laughter from Max, Jondy, and the younger ones.

"Must you in front of the children?" Wayne said jokingly.

"Absolutely," Rena said.

"You should know your sister by now, Wayne," Max teased.

Wayne nodded. "And I'll try not to bait her later, Zack, but I won't make any guarantees."

"At least he knows how I think," Zack said dryly.

TBC


	6. Chapter 5

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything that has to do with the show belong to its respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

Gabrielle looked suspiciously at the pile of clothes that she had just folded._ Okay, that t-shirt was with the rest of the load when I threw it into the washer, and I know that I saw it when I transferred everything to the dryer. I'm damn near positive that I got everything when I took my laundry out of the dryer when it was finished in there. Damn, this is annoying._ She shook her head and started to turn around to head for the laundry room again, but stopped when she heard her phone ringing. Gabrielle answered it gratefully. "It's Gabby. Who is it?"

"It's me, sweetheart," Zack said.

"Hi, Dad," Gabrielle replied. "What's going on?"

"I just thought that I'd call to say hello," Zack said.

"Dad, I'm a big girl," Gabrielle said, though she kept her voice light. She knew that her father's habit of periodically calling to check in on her when she was home came from the fact that he'd spent his adolescence and first part of adulthood spent running from Manticore, so it never truly bothered her. "How are things over at your office? Maxine yapping in your ear non-stop?"

"Very funny," Zack said. "Maxine actually happens to be out with her mother on a job right now. To be honest, I wish that you were here to help me go through all this paperwork that I have to get done."

"Right now, I wish that's where I was, too," Gabrielle said sincerely. "I told you when I finished at the offices for the summer before we took Derek and Jordan down to California that I need this time before I have to go back to school to get my stuff together and all of that. I'm tempted to go over there anyway. I'm trying to do my laundry and it's annoying the living hell out of me. How come every time I try to get this done, I end up missing a shirt, a sock, or something else?"

"If it makes you feel any better, your mother has always had a hard time trying to do laundry," Zack reminded her.

Gabrielle nodded. "Yeah, I know. Ever since I could remember, you were always the one who did the laundry." She laughed. "Was there any kind of chore that Mom actually could do without messing it up at least half of the time? I love my mother like crazy, but to say she isn't exactly that Martha Stewart person that Uncle Alec and Aunt Brin say was big before the Pulse is an understatement."

"She can cook chicken very well and she certainly knew how to get you and your brothers to clean your rooms," Zack said. He and his daughter both grinned. "She always did her best and still does. Speaking of your mother, is she home?"

"Sorry, Dad, you're out of luck at the moment," Gabrielle informed him. "Mom went out about a minute ago to do some grocery shopping and to pop in on Aunt Syl because she's in heat again so it's only her and Ronnie at her and Uncle Krit's place and she's going nuts. Poor Ronnie when she gets her first heat. She's going to be in for a hell of a time."

"I'll bet," Zack remarked. "Do you have any plans for later?"

"The usual, I guess," Gabrielle said. She switched the cordless receiver to her other hand. "I'll probably either find something here or go out and grab something to eat by myself unless you and Mom are both home and want all three of us to eat together. I might go meet the usual crowd over at Crash again, but I don't know about that one yet. I'm still waiting to hear back from Tony or Julia to see if either of them will be able to make it. Julia's got a date tonight but it's supposed to be for a fairly early dinner and Tony…" Gabrielle rolled her eyes. "God only knows what his plans are."

"I see." Zack sounded amused at Gabrielle's tone of voice. "Well, whatever you end up doing tonight, I hope that you have a great time. I should be back home by five, maybe six at the absolute latest, so I should at least see you before you go do whatever you will plan out."

"Gotcha," Gabrielle said. She grabbed the remote and turned on the TV in her room before tossing the remote back onto her bed. "Dad, do you really need some help going through that paperwork? If you do, I can always take a break from figuring out my laundry and ride over on my bike. It's no big deal."

"Biggs should be getting back here sometime in the next fifteen minutes, so I think I'll get some help from him then," Zack assured her. "If he isn't able to help me, then I'll get back to you. I promise." He paused. "What are you watching on TV?"

"Looks like the lunchtime news," Gabrielle said. "I'll probably change it in a minute." She started to take some of the folded laundry and put it away in her dresser drawers. "Speaking of news, did I tell you or did Uncle Biggs tell you that Andrea went back East today?"

"I haven't heard anything today, but Biggs mentioned yesterday that Andrea's flight back to New York City was supposed to leave at ten this morning," Zack said. "I can't believe she's starting graduate school."

"You do need a couple of years of it if you want to become a psychiatrist like Andrea does," Gabrielle said. "Personally, I think she's nuts that she wants to become a shrink, but to each her own, I guess. If that's what she wants to do, then more power to her."

"At least she knows what she wants to do," Zack said. "Your brothers on the other hand..." He sighed.

Gabrielle laughed. "Okay, Mom's not here right now, so I've got to be the one who has to listen to you complaining about how the Wonder Twins seem to have no apparent direction?" She grinned when she heard Zack's laughter on the other end of the line. "Dad, Derek and Jordan are only seventeen and they just started college. They only had their first classes today, for crying out loud. Give them some time to figure it all out. You know they will eventually."

"You sounded just like your mother," Zack said.

"That makes for a nice change. Most of the time, people tell me that I sound just like you or Grandma," Gabrielle joked.

"That's not such a bad thing, you know," Zack said, though his voice sounded as teasing as it ever did.

"I know that, Dad," Gabrielle said. She giggled. "Though what I'm not sure of is why…" Her attention drifted from her father to the television.

"…and in local news, we have a report of a missing child, the second in two days," the anchor said. "Earlier this morning, eleven-year-old Caitlin Brown disappeared from the public pool where she'd been swimming and playing with some of her friends. Eyewitnesses say that Ms. Brown excused herself to use the restroom several yards away from the pool and never returned. They did not see anybody take the girl. As we said earlier, Caitlin Brown was not the only child to be reported missing in the past few days. Eight-year-old—"

Gabrielle frowned as she changed the channel. "These poor children. It's so sad." She sighed. "I better get back to my laundry, Dad."

"I'll let you go, then," Zack said. "Enjoy your afternoon. If you go out, keep your…"

"…eyes and ears open at all times, no matter what," Gabrielle finished. She and Zack both laughed softly. "I will, Dad, always. I love you."

"I love you too, Gabby," Zack said. "I'll see you later."

"See you later. 'Bye." Gabrielle hung up the phone and paused briefly before sighing and heading back towards the laundry room.

TBC


	7. Chapter 6a

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

Notes: I went back and edited Chapter 1 slightly because I realized I made a goof with the age of one of the characters.

"So, are you guys going away for the weekend?" Alec asked as he, Brin, Max, Zack, and several of the others sat around a large table at a local pizza place the following night. "I was thinking about a barbeque at mine and Brin's place. Don't worry about the food, you know that grilling is the only form of cooking that I can actually pull off without rendering the food inedible and Brin makes a pretty decent potato salad. What do you guys think?"

"Tempting, and I'm being serious," Max said. She grabbed a slice of anchovy and stuffed almost half of it in her mouth at once. She chewed and swallowed her mouthful before continuing to speak. "We'll get back to you on that one. Unless this is a good-bye thing for Jillian, in which case we'll be there, no questions asked."

Brin laughed. "Close, Maxie. I mentioned the idea to Jillian at breakfast the other day and she got that look on her face and begged me not to embarrass her by throwing a party with adults." She frowned. "Do I really embarrass her that often?"

"Nah, she's just being a teenager," Alec said confidently. "I can't even begin to count the times that you said that Jillian reminded you of yourself when you were her age. The difference between you at seventeen and Jillian at that same point in time is that while you were bouncing from place-to-place with Zack here the only somewhat stable figure in your life, Jillian's got the normal family thing going on." Brin turned to Alec, raised an eyebrow, and Alec sighed. "Okay, I was saying more or less the same thing to Biggs about Jillian about two years ago and our resident shrink over here told me that practically word-for-word."

"Which I got partly from Psych books I've read and partly from raising girls who were themselves teenagers at the time…at the same time," Biggs said, laughing. "That was some experience. Keep that in mind whenever your own children are driving you up the wall. No matter how bad things might seem, it can't compare to being a father of three sixteen-year-olds who are simultaneously arguing about who gets the car and the one boy that somehow asked all three of them out, plus Jade and Julia are arguing between the two of them about this shirt of Julia's that Jade allegedly borrowed while they are having this screaming match between themselves and Andrea about the car and the guy. If Andrea wasn't half a foot shorter than her sisters, she'd be part of that argument as well."

Sasha smirked. "You forgot to mention the part where your son was pointing at the girls and laughing."

"My son? Hey, he's your son, too!" Biggs protested. "I didn't forget about that."

"Time out, kids," Wayne teased. "We didn't come all this way to fight."

"Yeah, all the way to downtown Seattle," Krit said.

Zack shook his head. "Please, for the love of God, behave yourselves just once." He sighed and finished off his slice of pizza. "I don't think a barbeque is such a bad idea. I don't have to do any on-site work this weekend, so I'd be willing to do that. Work has been a real pain lately, so this is probably the best thing for me. Not only do we have the usual things to do, but we've been getting a lot of calls over the past day or so from families who have been asking for bodyguards and upgraded security systems for protecting their children because of all those missing children that have been showing up on the news lately."

"How many has that been, now?" Jeff asked.

"There was that little boy two days ago, two girls at different times yesterday, and now another two," Biggs said. "The youngest one was the five-year-old girl that was reported as missing on the news last night and the oldest was the fourteen-year-old boy that was reported missing on the news this morning. This is getting kind of scary. I hate crime waves, and ones that involve children…it drives me absolutely nuts."

Alec frowned. "I don't know. Something about this is off. I can't put my finger on it, but there's something about these children disappearing like this that just isn't right. Maybe I've seen one or more of these kids in passing a few times, I don't know. Hopefully, either I'll figure it out or they'll catch the bozos. Maybe both, preferably now."

There was a difficult silence for several moments. "I don't know about any of you, but I have a real itching to get on my bike and do some serious racing out on the streets," Zane said. "I feel like I haven't done that in awhile."

"Just wait until your children are old enough to race against you," Max said. She looked slightly annoyed.

"Are you still annoyed because Jordan won when you, Zack, Gabrielle, and Derek went racing the night before you took the twins down to Cali?" Jondy exclaimed. "Maxie, get over it!"

"Jondy, this is Max," Rena pointed out. "She's not pissed about the fact that Jordan won, she's pissed about the fact that all three of her children beat her." She grinned wickedly. "And if you think that she's not too happy, then I know that you can imagine how big brother is feeling right now considering that he finished last in that little race."

Zack glared at her. "The difference between Jordan and me was less than a second. It was not that big of a deal and it's not as if I haven't been beaten in a motorcycle race by a member of my own family before."

"True," Rena conceded. She held out one hand and began to count off. "Maxie, Jordan, Derek, Gabrielle, and Krit beat you once but I do have to agree with you that he cheated that time. I almost beat you that one time when you came down to Texas to check up on me a month or so before I bailed. Remember that? I went out with my friends to where the underground bike racing was going to be held in Dallas that night and you just 'happened' because you wanted to make sure that what I was doing wasn't sending up a 'catch me' flag for Lydecker. You beat me by less than a second. Hardest I've ever had to work in an underground race."

"He was probably going easy on you," Syl said, snickering.

"You are worse than your husband," Rena said.

"I wasn't going easy on her, Syl," Zack told them. "Rena knew the setting better than I did so she knew more tricks, which was why the difference was as tight as it was. I didn't go easy on her."

Rena nodded. "I made Zack work for that particular victory. Besides, didn't the last time that you raced against him he beat you by about…four seconds or so? I don't know, was it that much or was it longer? Now that I think about it, it might have been closer to five seconds. It might even have been bigger than that." She ducked the swipe that Syl took at her and laughed. "Oh, don't get your panties in a wad about it, sis. I've had the pants beaten off of me plenty of times."

"Well, it sounds to me as if—" Alec was cut off by the sound of his cell phone ringing. He took it out of his pocket and answered it. "Yeah, Alec here."

"You better fucking get my daughter back, you goddamn son-of-a-bitch!" a female voice screamed on the other end of the line. Alec, Biggs, and Sasha recognized the voice immediately and exchanged confused and worried looks.

"Melanie, calm down," Alec said. "What are you talking about?"

"She's missing, you bastard," Melanie said angrily. She sounded as if she'd been crying and wasn't quite finished. "Meredith went out to the store just a few blocks from our apartment to get a soda about two-and-a-half hours ago. Bryan went out after her when she didn't come back after thirty minutes. He and the boys have been out looking for Meredith since and I've stayed here in case she calls or comes home. But she hasn't come home, and I know she's only thirteen but the store was only a few blocks away and she's got more than enough self-defense training to take care of herself, and you better help me fucking find her or I'll hurt you so badly…!" Melanie's voice became progressively more hysterical until she couldn't even talk.

Alec's gut went ice cold. _Oh God, Melanie and Bryan's daughter…just another…_ Another thought hit him and for a few moments, he had a hard time breathing before he turned his attention back to his former teammate. "Melanie, calm down. I'm going to head down to Terminal City right now and we're going to try to get to the bottom of this. Hang tight." He disconnected, threw some money down on the table, put his phone away, and left. The others followed him.

"Alec, what exactly is going on?" Brin asked warily.

"I think I might know what," Zack said grimly, catching onto Alec's train of thought. "And I really hope that you're wrong."

TBC


	8. Chapter 6b

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

When the group marched into the control room in Terminal City, Dix's eyes widened in surprise. "Well, this is unexpected." He hesitated when he saw the looks on some of their faces. "What's going on? Is something wrong?"

"Very wrong," Alec said. "Melanie and Bryan's daughter was just kidnapped."

"What?" Dix said. "How the hell could a transgenic get kidnapped?"

"Now would be a good time to share that idea of yours, Alec," Zack said.

Alec nodded. "Meredith isn't—" He stopped suddenly when they heard two voices approach the control room. A second later, Jeff bolted towards the doorway and hugged his only child.

"Kylie," he greeted, relieved beyond words. "You're here."

"Yeah," Kylie said slowly, confused by Jeff's behavior. "You knew that I was heading over here to hang out with Mandy. I left her and her parents' place and I ran into Mole as he was heading here and we got to talking. Dad, you can let go now."

"Sorry," Jeff apologized, releasing Kylie from the hug.

Kylie's eyes narrowed. "Dad, spill it."

"Meredith, do you remember her? The daughter of two of Uncle Alec's former unit mates," Jeff said. Kylie nodded and Jeff continued. "She was kidnapped just a few hours ago."

"Whoa," Kylie said.

"But wait, there's apparently more," Rena deadpanned. "Alec was going to fill us in on his take of the situation."

"Yeah, what the hell is going on, pretty boy?" Mole growled.

"What's going on is that somebody's got the bright idea to kidnap second generation Manticore transgenics," Alec said grimly.

There were a few moments of total silence. Max was the first one to be able to speak again and when she did, her voice managed to be both shocked beyond words and icy cold at the same time. "What?"

"All of the children that have been kidnapped to this point have been second generation X-series. None of them were ordinaries," Alec told them. "Remember when some of us were over at Jondy and Wayne's place when we caught that report of that boy, the first one that was publicly reported as being missing? There was something about him that was familiar, but it didn't click until tonight when Melanie called me to let me know about Meredith. I have seen him before…around here in Terminal City with his X6 parents. Caitlin Brown is the daughter of an X4, Chelsea, that I'd been paired with on a mission back at Manticore when I was twelve and Chelsea's X3 husband. The teenage boy who was taken is the son of two X5s originally from Wyoming, the little girl has X6s for parents, and the twelve-year-old girl that was reported as missing on the twelve o'clock news this afternoon was the daughter of an X5 and an X4."

"Holy hell," Brin said. "This can't be right. There's no way." She tried to collect herself.

"What about others?" Zack asked. "There have been five children reported as missing by the media, plus Melanie and Bryan's daughter, but those are the only ones that we know about for sure. Like you said, Alec, these are second generation kids. Their parents have the training and the motivation to try to locate them on their own without public assistance or knowledge, and I can understand why they would want to keep this quiet."

"That thought hasn't sprouted wings and flown out of my brain," Alec agreed.

Kylie looked slightly confused. "Why only second gen-ers like me? Why not make a go for a first generation, at least an X9?"

"Because second generation transgenics like you don't have barcodes," Zane said. "X9s were engineered and born in Manticore, so they've got them on their necks. The children of the X4s had been born with barcodes, but they had all faded away by the time any of those kids turned a year old, if not sooner, and they didn't return. Not a single one of you guys have any identifying marks to give you away. It makes things that much easier for whoever is behind this."

"But why are they targeting these young kids?" Syl asked, understandably nervous. "Why us? Why them?"

Max felt everything inside her freeze and she exchanged a glance with Zack. "They might not just be targeting the younger ones. The breeding program kids and some of the other older ones that are at least eighteen are legally adults and might not be living with their parents, so there wouldn't be anybody who would immediately report them as missing." She turned to Dix. "Check in on every known second generation Manticore transgenic. Contact them or their parents and verify their whereabouts. Try to peek in on where these kidnappings have been taking place, if they've been concentrated within the Seattle area or if they're more spread out."

"Get in touch with all known non-Manticore transgenics," Alec said. "Fill in our buddies in Australia, France, Japan, Greece, and Spain and have them check up on their guys, first and second generation. We also need to try to get a plan to protect our kids. For now, advise all older kids not to go out by themselves. If the parents agree to it, try to get as many of the younger ones settled temporarily here in T.C." He looked back to the others to gauge their thoughts and smiled briefly when they nodded their approval. "Most of the anomalies and transhumans, including the two of you, as well as the X7s still live in these parts. The kids will be safe."

"Also, contact the X9s as well to make sure that none of them have had their barcodes removed for one reason or another," Zack added. "If any of them got those things lasered off, they're as vulnerable as the kids."

Kylie turned to Jeff. "What time is Mom's flight getting in?"

Jeff couldn't help laughing a little. _She sure knows how her mother thinks._ "I'll call her and find out."

"What, you're not even going to bother with the semi-requisite 'stay where you are, we've got everything under control, there's not much you can do' speech?" Biggs teased.

"Using those lines on Becky would be as useful as trying to a wad of gum to put a rocket launcher together," Jeff reminded him. Jeff's cell phone rang and he picked it up, looked at it, smirked, and held it out in front of Biggs' face. "You were saying?" He walked aside to have some privacy.

"How should go about this in public?" Krit asked. "I'm all for doing anything that would protect my children, but would letting everybody know what details we've got help things or hurt them?"

"Good question," Max said, sighing. "I think we should keep things on the down low in general, but let the police and those people in. There are still some prejudiced assholes out there that look for any and all excuses to stir up trouble with us and the last thing that we need is for one of those guys to mess things up further."

"Plus, we're clearly dealing with somebody who knows how to deal with transgenics," Alec added. "All of those kids have had some training to one extent or another and even taking that as well as their natural physical abilities into account, they were taken cleanly. I've got to figure that if we're looking at people who are smart enough to know how to handle us, they'll out maneuver the ordinaries without much of a problem. We should fill the authorities in and keep them in the loop, but advise them to let us handle this. My opinion. It's within our rights." He looked over at Jeff, who had just returned to the group. "When is Becky getting back into Seattle?"

"She's going to get onto the next available flight," Jeff said. "She said she hopes to be on her way back by tomorrow afternoon at the latest, but she might be able to get on one of the last flights tonight."

"I guess all that's left to do for the time being is to make all those who need to know wise about this," Max concluded. They all agreed, drifting off to make phone calls or to talk with Dix and Mole. Max sighed and leaned against Zack. "Part of me wants to go down to California right now to get the boys so that I know that they're safe and another part is telling me to listen to my own damn logic and wait until we know if these kidnappings are concentrated in our neck of the woods or not. I want to know that they're fine, but I…"

Zack hugged her. "Go call them. I'll call Gabby and make sure that she knows what's going on here."

"Thanks," Max said.

"Don't worry," Alec said. "Come hell or high water, we're going to figure out what's going on and get things right." His expression darkened. "There's no way in hell anybody's going to get away with this. If they even try something with one or both of my children…or any of our kids…let's try not to let it get that far."

"I hear that," Max agreed.

TBC


	9. Chapter 7

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

Max took the potatoes out from the oven and set them down on top of the stove just as the phone rang. She quickly turned off the over, threw off the oven mitts she'd been wearing, and raced to pick it up. "Max here." She looked over to see Gabrielle standing in the entrance to the kitchen and motioned for her to wait. "Yeah. Good. Perfect, I'm glad that everything's cool with them. Thank you so much, Dix. 'Bye." She hung up the phone. "What is it, Gabby?"

"I was just wondering if you needed anything," she said.

Max smiled sympathetically. "I know how bored you are. I'm sorry." They both looked over towards the front door. "You can go get the door and let your uncle and cousin in, though."

"Thanks," Gabrielle said. She went over to the door and opened it. "Hi, Uncle Jeff. Hi, Kylie. Come on in."

"Thanks," Jeff said. He stepped inside and gave Gabrielle a hug. "It's great to see you, Gabby." He let go of Gabrielle and gave Max a hug. "Hey, Max. How have you been doing?"

"Since yesterday?" Max teased. She started to reply, but stopped when Zack came down the stairs. She went over to him and gave Zack a kiss. "Hey, sweetie."

"Hey," Zack said. He gave Max a kiss of his own. "Who was on the phone?"

"That was Dix," Max informed him. "Miho had just phoned him from Tokyo. She told Dix that all of her people are good. I think that's everybody. Let's see, Javier, Marie, and Mike called in this morning, and Constantine filled us in this afternoon. Yeah, that makes all of our overseas friends."

"Is it going to be just us tonight?" Kylie asked.

"No," Zack said. "Syl and Krit will be coming over with Ronnie and Dean later. Jace, Victor, and Maxine should be here any minute now. We invited Alec, Brin, Anthony, and Jillian over, but they couldn't make it."

"They couldn't?" Gabrielle said, trying to hide her surprising disappointment.

"Sorry," Max apologized. "Brin said they needed to have a family discussion tonight about whether or not it would be safe to send Jillian to school on time."

_Then why the hell would Tony have to be at home?_ Gabrielle sighed and put on a smile, though she had a feeling her mother wasn't buying it. "It's just as well. Tony would have hogged all the good food if he'd come." She started to say something else, but the sound of a car pulling up in front of the house distracted her, and she and the others looked in the direction of the front door as a person got out and started walking towards the house, the car driving off. Jeff's face suddenly lit up and he nearly flew to the front door, flung it open, yanked Becky inside, and spun her around.

"I can't believe it!" He set his wife down and kissed her deeply. "What are you doing here? I thought that you told me that the earliest flight that you could take back from Denver wouldn't get into Seattle-Tacoma until nine tonight."

"You thought right. Fortunately, I turned out to be wrong," Becky said, grinning. "I was so pissed off that I couldn't get a flight out last night or earlier today. I had to go on standby and I got lucky and got on the first flight after that. Didn't think that would have happened, but it did." She walked over to Kylie and gave her a huge hug. "Oh, sweetie. Thank goodness that you're safe."

"Of course I am, Mom," Kylie assured her.

Zack walked up to Becky and hugged her. "Welcome back, baby sister."

"It's good to be back," Becky said. She sniffed. "Something smells good. What do you've got cooking, Max?"

"Roasting a chicken," Max answered. "I also just took some potatoes out of the oven. The chicken should be ready in fifteen minutes or so."

"Good. I'm getting hungry," Zack said. He hugged Max from behind.

"Be patient and you'll get your food," Max teased, turning around in his embrace so that she was facing Zack. She leaned forward and gave him a kiss.

Kylie made a face. "Looks like it's parental PDA time." The doorbell rang and she perked up. "Saved by the bell."

"If we're lucky," Gabrielle agreed. She walked over to the door and opened it to reveal, Jace, Victor, and Maxine. Jace and Victor were mid-kiss and Maxine looked mildly annoyed. Gabrielle turned back to Kylie and gave her younger cousin a shrug. "I guess not."

"Lucky about what?" Maxine wondered. She walked inside the house and sat down on the couch with a sigh.

"Maxine, I thought you were happy about the chance to get out of your apartment," Jace said.

"I am! That doesn't mean that this whole situation doesn't bug the living daylights out of me," Maxine pointed out. She sighed. "I'm sorry, Mom. I didn't mean to sound like a spoiled brat."

"Understood," Jace said. "We'll figure this out. I promise." She gave her daughter a smile, leaned against Victor, and snuggled close when he put his arm around Jace's shoulders.

Gabrielle sighed. "Well, it was a nice reprieve from the mushiness for awhile." Her cell phone rang. She took it out of her pocket and looked at the number displayed on the front. "Excuse me." She went upstairs. Kylie and Maxine followed her.

"I really feel bad for the kids," Jeff said sympathetically as he sat down on the couch. "Don't get me wrong, I know how tough it's got to be for the younger kids that have been temporarily relocated to Terminal City, especially for those whose parents couldn't move in with them, but it's not all that easy for the older ones, either. They might be at least somewhat aware of what the situation is, but seeing their frustration at having their normal lives restricted to some degree or another frustrates me as well."

"Speaking of the situation, what's the latest?" Becky asked. She took a seat next to her husband.

"All known foreign transgenics have checked in. They're all cool," Max said. She glanced over at Jace and Victor. "Got that bit of info right before you guys came over. There haven't been any known attempts in the past twenty-four hours, and only one kidnapping total in the forty-eight since we agreed about the safety plan for the kids and started to implement it."

"How many kidnapped children or adults does that make?" Victor wondered.

Zack's eyes were as hard as ever. "A grand total of forty-three second-generation X-series, plus three X9s that had their barcodes temporarily removed for reasons that we're not sure of."

"Jesus," Becky said quietly. "What about the children of the Psy Ops transgenics? They look as normal as we do."

"We're lucky on that front so far," Max answered. "None of them are missing, and their parents are following the same plan for them as we are for our kids."

"We better find out what's going on soon," Jace said.

"We've already got some of the five Ws," Jeff said hopefully. "We know the 'What' and at least some of the 'Where' and 'When.' All that's left is the 'Who' and 'Why.'"

"How easy will that be, though?" Becky mused.

"Good question," Max commented.

* * *

Gabrielle flipped open her phone when she was halfway up the stairs. "Gabby here."

"Hey," Anthony said.

"Hey, yourself," Gabrielle returned, frowning. Anthony's voice had been cheerful enough, but she could pick up on the underlying weariness in it. "Are you okay?"

"Technically, yeah," Anthony said. "We just had a nice discussion about Jillian and school. Boy, was that one fun."

"Huh." Gabrielle, Kylie, and Maxine went inside Gabrielle's bedroom. Gabrielle sat down on her bed before she continued to talk with Anthony, keeping her voice quiet enough so that none of the adults downstairs would be able to hear her. "I'm going to take a gander that it didn't exactly go very well."

"You could say that," Anthony agreed. "It started out well enough…until Dad brought up the topic. Jillian got this really annoyed look on her face and asked Dad if he was joking. Dad said that he wasn't, so Jill tried pointing out that her school was more than fifty miles away from here. Mom decided to jump in at that point by saying that it was still too close for comfort for her to be there all by herself during the week. Jillian started to get upset by then and Mom started yelling at her." He sighed. "That was the first time I ever heard my mom yell at anybody, much less Jillian or me. Dad played peacemaker and got Mom and Jillian to calm down. To make a long story short, they agreed that Jillian would miss at least a couple of days of school. After that, I guess it depends on what the situation is like at that point."

"It sounds like our parents are taking this as badly as we are," Gabrielle commented.

"You don't have to tell me twice," Anthony agreed. "Anyway, I called Mitch after the family talk and we ended up deciding to go out to get some pizza with Jade and Julia. Do you and Maxine want to come with? We're taking Uncle Biggs' van, so there'll be plenty of room for everyone. Hell, Kylie can come along if she wants. I took pity on Jillian and invited her, too."

Gabrielle laughed at the return of Anthony's usual tone of voice. She glanced over at her cousins, who were nodding eagerly. "Yeah, we're in. I hope the parental units won't throw too big of a fit over it. I don't see why they should. We're going to be in a very public place."

"And we're a large group of people, too," Anthony said. "If that doesn't sway them, just tell them that they can meet you at the front door when we drop you off when we're done."

"Gotcha," Gabrielle acknowledged. "When are you coming to pick us up?"

"We're about to turn onto your street as we speak," Anthony said cheerfully.

"You really are full of yourself." Gabrielle shook her head, but she had a smile on her face.

"Just for you," Anthony said. Gabrielle bit her lip at the strange shiver that ran from her head to her toes at those words. "See you in a few."

"See you." Gabrielle disconnected, put her cell phone back in her pocket, and ran downstairs, Kylie and Maxine hot on her heels. "Mom, Dad, that was Tony. He, Jillian, Mitch, Jade, and Julia are coming by to pick us up and we're going for pizza. Don't worry, there'll be eight of us and we're definitely going to stay in public. Please, can we go?"

The adults exchanged looks before Zack nodded. "Since you are going to be in that large of a group in public, then yes. Don't forget to be extra careful."

"We won't forget," Kylie promised.

Max smiled at them as a horn honked outside. "Go and have some fun. You need a break from this stress. Have a good time and call when you're on your way home so that we know when to meet you."

"We will," Gabrielle said. She, Kylie, and Maxine waved to the adults as they headed out the door.

TBC


	10. Chapter 8

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

"Thanks for the invite," Gabrielle said to Anthony the following day as she walked into his apartment. She turned around to Max and smiled sweetly. "I'm safely indoors, Mom. You can go home now."

Anthony nodded. "And while you're at it, can you please take my mom with you?"

"Gee, thanks a lot," Brin said from where she stood behind Anthony, pretending to be offended. She laughed and gave her son a hug. "You guys behave yourselves, okay?"

"I don't know, Mom, we were thinking about terrorizing the neighbors by running naked and screaming through the halls," Anthony deadpanned. The look on Brin's face made him laugh. "Don't worry, Mom. All Gabby and I plan on doing is talking and watching some DVDs. We'll be absolutely fine. Go and have fun with Aunt Max."

"Fine, fine, fine, the old ladies will clear out of your way," Brin told him. She laughed, leaned up, and kissed her son on the cheek. "Have fun."

"We will," Gabrielle promised.

"Have a good time," Max said. She and Brin left the apartment and Anthony finally shut the front door.

"About time," he remarked.

Gabrielle rolled her eyes. "Funny." She walked over to the living room couch and flopped down on it. "Can you hook us up with something decent to watch?"

"That shouldn't be too hard," Anthony said. He walked over to the shelves that held his DVD collection, considered the selection, pulled one off of a shelf, and held it out towards Gabrielle. "What about this one? Does this work?"

"Yeah, that's good," Gabrielle agreed. "Pop it in." She waited while Anthony put the DVD in and sat down next to her before grinning at him. "I love this movie. I laugh every damn time I see it."

"Same here." Anthony leaned back and sighed. "I had to give up on that job that I was going to start next week."

Gabrielle blinked. "You're kidding."

"I wish I was," Anthony confessed. "But we don't know how long it's going to be before everything gets straightened out and settled down and the office building is in a fairly remote location. If it was downtown, then it wouldn't have been as big of a deal and I'd still go. But there are enough points along the routes that I could take to get there where somebody could make a grab. Believe me, I was pretty pissed when I came to this conclusion and called them." He snorted. "Maxine not only works downtown, but is surrounded by other transgenics day in and day out. Mitch told me earlier today that the chances of him going back to school on time look pretty good considering the situation. But me? Nope, my life's got to be even more on hold than everybody else's."

"What about the place where you had that internship the past two months?" Gabrielle asked. "Are they or can they keep you on?"

Anthony shook his head. "No, they can't. I called them and asked if that were possible, but they said that they didn't have any open positions. They said that they were lucky just to have the internships in their budget."

"I'm sorry, Anthony," Gabrielle apologized. The look on Anthony's face broke her heart. She'd never realized how hard the situation was hitting him. _The poor guy. What's he going to do? What can I do for him?_ She smiled at him. "I know something that might cheer you up."

"What the hell," Anthony said. He shrugged. "Shoot."

"Kylie dyed her hair," Gabrielle told him. She snickered.

Anthony raised an eyebrow, but Gabrielle could see one of the corners of his mouth twitching upwards. "You're kidding me. Kylie actually dyed her hair? When Jillian dyed her own hair hot pink last year, didn't Aunt Becky threaten to lock Kylie up in her room until she was fifty if she did the same thing?"

"I remember that," Gabrielle recalled. "But yeah, Kylie colored her hair. She only dyed it blond, though, not something unnatural like Jillian did. Aunt Becky and Uncle Jeff's reactions were great. Well, I thought that they were. Kylie spent the night over at my house yesterday. After we got up this morning, she pulls out the box and swears me to secrecy about the dye job until she finishes it. Aunt Becky and Uncle Jeff came over to have brunch with us and to pick up Kylie and Kylie comes downstairs just after her parents get inside the house." She cracked up. "You would have loved the look on Aunt Becky's face, Tony. Kylie just says 'Hi, Mom, what do you think?' and Aunt Becky stares at her like a deer stuck in headlights. Uncle Jeff takes one glance at the expression on her face and cracks up before calming down and reassuring Aunt Becky that at least Kylie dyed her hair a natural color and that it could have been a hell of a lot worse. Aunt Becky snapped out of it and actually admitted that Kylie looked good as a blond. Which she does. She's got the right complexion for it."

"Have you ever thought about dyeing your hair?" Anthony asked. He snorted. "Wow, we certainly are having some scintillating conversation, aren't we?"

Gabrielle couldn't help laughing. "Yeah, we definitely are. And I haven't felt like dyeing my hair blond or any other color, for that matter." She made a face and shut off the movie. "Do you mind? I'm not really in the mood to watch this anymore."

"Knock yourself out," Anthony told her. "I don't feel like watching it, either."

"Thanks," Gabrielle said. She stood up and walked into the kitchen. "I'm getting hungry. What about you? Got anything good in here?"

"Of course I've got something decent," Anthony said. "Just give me a moment…" He reached up and opened one of his cabinets, withdrew a box, and held the item in front of him triumphantly. "No greater snack food in the world in a pinch than Ritz crackers."

"You're whacked," Gabrielle stated.

"Maybe," Anthony conceded. "But I think that you're whacked even worse than I am."

"Excuse me? What led you to that conclusion?" Gabrielle said.

"A couple of things," Anthony told her. "The fact that—"

Gabrielle cut him off. "Never mind. I don't think that I want to know. But I still say that you're screwed up."

"Only one thing that I can think of that's messing with my mind," Anthony said, stepping closer to Gabrielle.

"Oh?" Gabrielle prayed that Anthony would ignore the sound of her rapidly beating heart. "What's that?" Anthony didn't say anything, but instead leaned down and kissed her softly on the lips. Gabrielle gasped in surprise against his mouth, but then relaxed and felt herself returning the kiss.

"You," Anthony said softly when he and Gabrielle finally parted. "You've been screwing with my mind for years." He gently moved a lock of Gabrielle's brown hair away from her face.

"Whoa," Gabrielle said. "I mean…" She was silenced by Anthony touching his finger to her lips.

"For once, would you stop talking and feel?" he said softly. Gabrielle could only nod and melted into his embrace as Anthony kissed her again.

TBC


	11. Chapter 9a

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

"I really don't know about this, Alec," Zack said warningly to Alec the following morning as they entered the apartment building where Anthony lived. "We should have called if for no other reason to check in on them and make sure that they're okay."

Alec shrugged. "Zack, they're not little kids. I'm as worried as you are, but I know my son and I know Gabrielle almost as well. If they were going to leave the apartment, even if it was only to go down to the deli down the street, they would have called one or both of us to let us know. You said that Gabrielle didn't call either you or Max for a ride home, so that means that she crashed in the guest room of Tony's apartment if she felt like sleeping last night." He grinned. "They'll be thrilled when we surprise them. At the very least, they'll come along just for the free food."

"For the record, I think that surprising them is a bad idea," Zack muttered.

"Yeah, yeah, yeah," Alec said. He pressed the up button for the elevator and raised an eyebrow in surprise when the door opened immediately. "Huh. The last time that I visited Tony over here, I had to wait almost ten minutes for this thing."

"I guess we got lucky," Zack commented.

Alec nodded as he and Zack went inside the elevator. "It looks that way." The two of them were fairly quiet as they took the elevator up to the correct floor and remained that way until they were right outside of the front door of Anthony's apartment. "I just hear breathing so I guess they're both asleep. That makes sense. We are on the early side."

"Yeah, but…" Zack frowned. "Is it just me, Alec, or does their breathing sound as if it's in rather close proximity to each other?"

"Huh." Alec reached for his key and opened the apartment door. He stepped inside and nearly stopped short when he saw Anthony and Gabrielle lying together on the living room floor, sound asleep. He heard movement behind him and before he could do anything about it, Zack blurred around Alec and yanked Anthony off the floor, instantly waking the young man up.

"Whoa…what the…I didn't do anything!" he protested.

"Bullshit," Zack growled, though he kept his voice low so he wouldn't wake his daughter up.

"Zack, put my son down right now," Alec commanded. "I mean it. Put Anthony down."

"I'll deal with you later," Zack promised. He let go of Anthony, walked over to Alec, and took a swing at the other X5. Alec blocked the punch, but Zack used his free hand to grip Alec's throat. "You son-of-a-bitch. Look what your son did to my little girl."

"I don't see anything wrong, Zack," Alec pointed out. He tried to pry Zack's hand off of his throat. "They're both adults and they're both fully clothed."

"Anthony _is_ your son. In every way." Zack's voice was icier than an Arctic night. "I might not have grown up with you and I wasn't around Seattle as much as you were after we were exposed following that hostage situation, but I've also heard stories from Biggs, and the others about you when you were in Manticore. I've known Anthony since he was born. I've watched him grow up and he is so much like you. Do you think that I would trust—" Zack suddenly felt himself yanked off of Alec and thrown nearly to the door. He looked up, ready to attack Anthony or Alec, only to see Gabrielle standing up and glaring at him, her brown eyes as frosty and unyielding as his blue ones.

"What do you think you're doing, Dad?" she demanded.

"What were you doing with him, young lady?" Zack questioned.

Gabrielle crossed her arms in front of her chest and her voice dropped another few degrees. "We were watching movies together. After we got tired of that, we just talked until both of us fell asleep. Nothing major happened beyond a few kisses. In case you haven't noticed, Dad, both of us are wearing the clothes that we'd had on yesterday."

"A few kisses?" Zack repeated.

"Yes, Dad, a few kisses," Gabrielle confirmed. "Anthony and I are a couple now. You know, boyfriend and girlfriend?"

"I am an adult. I know what a boyfriend and a girlfriend are," Zack said angrily.

"Funny that you should mention being an adult, because you're not treating me like one," Gabrielle pointed out. "I'm twenty years old, Dad. I'm not ten anymore. I am not the little girl that you used to push on the swings in the playground in Terminal City. Anthony sure as hell isn't some of my ex-boyfriends. We've been friends since I was in diapers. He knows me. He cares about me. Anthony _loves_ me, Dad, whether you want to admit it to yourself or not."

Anthony edged his way over to his father. Alec looked at his son and grinned. "Not denying it, huh?" he teased, keeping his voice quiet enough so that Zack and Gabrielle would be unable to hear him.

"Never," Anthony said immediately with a grin of his own. It faded as he took in the scene in front of him. "Um, Dad?"

"What is it, Tony?" Alec replied.

"Are they going to kill each other?" Anthony frowned and Alec looked over at Zack and Gabrielle. He noted how both of them had their arms crossed over their respective chests, the stubborn set of their jaws, and the unwavering glares.

"No," Alec finally said. "If it was Jordan that Zack was arguing with, then we might see some screaming and punches being thrown, at least on Jordan's part. Gabrielle getting her father away from me is as violent as it will get between these two. With these two, it's more of a question of which one will look away first."

"So we're going to be here forever?"

"Oh yeah."

TBC


	12. Chapter 9b

Disclaimer: The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

"I wish that we had something more concrete," Becky muttered as she sat at a desk in the Terminal City control room, going through some papers. "A name, a place, a face that I could wreck the shit out of…that sort of thing."

Mole snorted. "Getting a little impatient there, princess?"

"Considering that my only child is among those that are in danger here, yes," Becky replied.

"Sorry," Mole apologized.

Becky raised an eyebrow. "You're actually apologizing for something? That happens about as often as rain in the Sahara." She smirked. "As a matter of fact, I'm pretty sure that you've only ever apologized for something when multiple lives are in danger. Am I correct here?"

"You're right," another desert-series transgenic confirmed. "You should have been there when me, this lug, and the rest of our unit went out on an assignment in Tunisia back in 2016. It was supposed to have been relatively easy, but it went sideways and we had to hole up in some abandoned shack while we waited for some X5s to bail us out. We've got gunshots coming at us from all sides and all I could hear was Mole yapping on about how sorry that--"

"We get the idea, Dommie," Mole interrupted.

"It's Dominic, not Dommie."

"Yeah, and I'm the Queen of England."

"Okay, guys, settle down," Dix spoke up. "I don't want to see any bloodshed."

"Fine," Mole mumbled.

"All right," Dominic agreed. He looked at his watch and shrugged. "I should be going anyway. I've got sentry duty in fifteen minutes."

Becky shook her head as she watched Dominic leave the room. "Mole, is there anybody with whom you've gone two or three minutes without an argument?"

"Beats me," Mole said.

"Becky, anything new from our X-series and Psy Ops parents?" Dix asked. "Do you have the updated numbers of our second-generation population?"

"Yeah. I'm looking at it as we speak," Becky confirmed. "Eighty percent of the second generation X-series that are under age sixteen, live in the Seattle area, and that have not been kidnapped have moved into Terminal City. Most of their parents have moved in here with them. In addition to them, about half of our local second generation population that are sixteen and over have moved in here. We've got nearly all of our next-generation Psy Ops people in here, though. The only ones from that group that aren't temporarily living here are the half Psy Ops/half ordinary ones, and there's only a handful of them. The only reason that they haven't moved in here is because their immune systems can't handle it like a few of the half-ordinary second gen-ers can. Luckily, none of them have been kidnapped and they're under pretty tight surveillance from our guys. They're as safe as they can be."

"That's good," Dix said.

"Absolutely." Becky paused when her cell phone rang. She took it out of her pocket, smiled when she saw the name on the external display, and opened the phone. "Hey, sweetheart. What's going on?"

"Not much," Jeff replied. "Kylie went up to her room to catch up on her e-mail and I've got nothing on my plate until that physics department faculty meeting this afternoon." He sighed. "Honestly, I'm a little unsure about returning to work. I really should, but I'm worried as hell about Kylie."

"You and me both," Becky said. "This whole situation is severely fucked up."

"No arguments there. At this point, though, I think I will go to work on time. As long as Kylie is someplace secure, public, or both while the two of us are working, I don't see why either of us shouldn't go back." Jeff paused for a few moments. "Don't mind me. I'm waiting for our daughter to come downstairs and yell at me for talking about her as if she's still an infant."

"Jeff, you know that she wouldn't do that," Becky assured him. She sighed and grew quiet.

"What are you thinking about?" Jeff wondered.

"A lot of things," Becky told Jeff honestly. "Kylie, wishing that we'd had more children, wondering how bigger of a wreck I'd be if that were the case, just…everything."

"You know that I also wish that we'd had more kids after Kylie," Jeff said softly. "That's simply how things worked out. But this situation will resolve itself for the better, sweetheart. There's no other way. We've dealt with bigger threats before." He chuckled. "Do you remember the time way back at Manticore, when you were first attached to my unit because of the assignment at that military academy that you and Riley went on? Remember that game of Capture the Flag that they had us run the day before the two of you were deployed?"

"I don't think that anybody could forget that day," Becky agreed, laughing. "Layla got lucky as hell for only having to run ten laps around the facility for paintballing Christian in a rather…what would be the better word to describe her work? Strategic or creative?"

"Either one works, and the trainer made up for his lax punishment for Layla by making me run five of those laps with her because I was commanding that group and assigned Layla to take a sniper position near the flag," Jeff recalled. He snickered. "It was worth it. It was hysterical, and Christian learned an important lesson about messing around with Layla. Oh, he didn't stop bothering her, but he sure as hell hasn't thrown water balloons at Layla since that morning."

"Considering that they're mated and married now, I should think so," Becky said dryly.

Jeff's voice took on a teasing quality. "I hope that you aren't thinking about doing anything like that to me."

"I never have, baby," Becky told him, giggling. "Honest."

"I know," Jeff acknowledged.

Becky smiled fondly. "Remember the big trip to Mexico back in the summer of '22?"

"I'll never forget that," Jeff said. "I proposed to you on that trip."

"You really took me by surprise," Becky noted.

"You think I took you by surprise? I surprised the hell out of myself!" Jeff exclaimed.

"Twenty damn years ago. It's hard to believe that much time's gone by since that trip," Becky mused.

"I can still remember the day I popped the question like it was two minutes ago," Jeff said.

"Me too," Becky agreed. "That was an absolutely gorgeous day. Not too hot, no clouds in the sky. We were all down at the beach near the place we were staying at. The two of us were lying on our towels after a swim…"

"You were wearing that bikini that brought out your eyes," Jeff recalled. "The slate blue that was shimmer-y, you remember that one?"

"I can't believe that you do," Becky exclaimed, touched. "Yeah, Max gave it to me before we left. She told me that it would drive you nuts."

"Well, she definitely was right. It did," Jeff commented. He chuckled. "How many times did Kevin, Wes, and some of the other guys tried to yank loose the strings on the top?"

"Good thing that I was too fast." Becky smirked at the memory. "I'm happy that they dropped the idea and moved on. All of the other girls on the trip loved my swimsuit, though. Your sister Trina wouldn't stop asking me if I knew where Max had bought the thing for me. I finally told her that I would ask Max or get Max to tell Trina herself and Trina finally left us alone. I asked you if she was always that talkative…"

"…and while my brain was telling me to say 'Yes, always,' my mouth was asking you to mate with and marry me," Jeff finished. "I was madly in love with you and I wanted to propose mating and marriage somewhere along the line for sure, but not at that point. We were only nineteen. I knew as soon as I proposed, though, that I meant it with all my heart and then some. It felt so right. It still does. It always will."

"Oh, yes," Becky breathed. She wiped at the tears that were threatening to roll down her cheeks. "Always." She took a deep breath and smiled. "Of course, all of our siblings and friends were listening in on us when you proposed and tried to pretend like they weren't. For trained soldiers, they were doing a pretty shitty job. For brothers, sisters, and friends, they were doing even worse."

Jeff laughed. "Yeah, they sure were." He paused when both he and Becky heard a noise in the background on Jeff's side of the connection. "Hold on a sec, somebody's trying to call me on my cell phone." A few moments later, he came back on the line. "Becky, I've got to get going. It's Wes and it's important. I'll see you later today."

"Okay, no problem."

"I love you, Becky," Jeff said softly. "Forever."

"Forever," Becky echoed. "'Bye." She disconnected, put her cell phone back in her pocket, and returned her attention back to the papers on the desk.

"Are you okay?" Dix asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Becky replied. She set the papers aside and turned to the computer terminal at the desk. "I'll tap into the hoverdrone cameras and other security cams around the city, see if these assholes are brazen enough to try something in broad daylight."

"They have before, right?" Mole growled around his cigar.

"Exactly." Becky tapped some commands into the computer and a few moments later found herself shifting from one camera feed to another. "So far, so—" She stopped suddenly when something on the monitor caught her eye. Becky zoomed in and raised a questioning eyebrow. "What the hell?"

"What's going on? Catch something?" Mole questioned.

"Possibly," Becky said. She waved Mole over to her. "Check out the group of three men standing over at this intersection. Look at the pins that each of them have on the duffel bags that they're carrying."

Mole frowned when he saw what Becky had pointed out to him. "Yeah, I got it."

"It might be a fluke thing, they could be in the city on leave, but why would these guys be in the country, much less Seattle?" Becky mused. She typed in some more commands and swore when she came across the feed from a different camera. "Son-of-a-bitch! This can't be a coincidence." The X6 quickly had the computer print out the images and snatched them the second that the printer had spat them out. "I've got to tell Max about this." She whipped her cell back out and speed-dialed Max's number. "It's Becky."

"Becky? What's wrong?" Max wondered.

"Where is everybody?" Becky asked.

"Zack just left. He and Alec are going to pick up Gabby and Anthony and take them to breakfast," Max replied.

"I'll be at your house in a few minutes." Becky disconnected, put her phone away, stuffed the printouts into her purse, and shot Dix an apologetic look. "I'm sorry, but I can't stay and complete my shift."

Dix shook his head. "It's no big deal. Don't worry about it."

"Thanks," Becky said gratefully as she rushed out of the room.

TBC


	13. Chapter 9c

**Disclaimer:** The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

Max frowned when she heard Becky disconnect and put her cell phone away. The conversation that she'd just had with her sister-in-law hadn't even lasted a minute, but it was more than long enough for Max to pick up on its intent. _Whatever's going down, it can't be good._ She crossed her arms in front of her chest and stared out of her living room window. _We'd better get all over it like Sketchy on Two-fers Night. Nothing's gonna happen. _The X5 waited somewhat patiently for several minutes until she could hear Becky's car pull up to the house. She left the house, and once she'd locked the door, ran over to the car and let herself inside. "Thanks. What's going on?"

"If I'm right, nothing that's going to make anybody happy," Becky replied as she pulled away from the curb.

"Solid or theory?"

"Something in between." Becky sighed. "I'll give you the full run down when we reach Anthony's apartment. I promise."

"Okay. I trust you," Max said. She shook her head. "I almost wish I don't. This news doesn't exactly sound like it's gonna be rosy."

"I feel your pain," Becky agreed. The two women were silent the rest of the way to the apartment building. Becky found a parking space and she and Max got out of the car once she'd shut off the engine. They quickly went inside, made their way up to the correct floor, and over to Anthony's apartment. They went inside and shot each other amused looks over the scene in front of them. Zack and Gabrielle were still glaring at each other while Alec and Anthony stood off to the side, their expressions somewhere between wary and amused. Becky finally broke the silence. "Are we interrupting something?"

"Yes, thank you," Alec told her. The quip that he had been about to make died on the tip of his tongue when he saw the look in Becky's eyes. He nudged Zack, who had a similar reaction when he saw his younger sister. "What's going on?"

"I picked up on something when I pulling a shift in the control room," Becky began. She glanced over towards the two kids, both of whom shook their heads.

"We're adults, Aunt Becky," Gabrielle said. "Whatever you've got to say, Tony and I will be here for it."

Becky nodded. "Okay." She took a deep breath and started again. "I was working my shift in the T.C. control room, going through feeds from security cams and hoverdrones when I picked up on something." The X6 reached into her purse and took out the printouts that she'd made earlier from the camera feeds. She handed one photo to Alec and the other to Zack and waited before Max had moved around so the female X5 could take a look before she continued talking. "Found the group of Russian and German soldiers on the printout that Zack's got first and then the group of Slovak, Polish, and Romanian soldiers on the one that Alec has. That many of those guys in this city together?"

"Not good," Alec muttered, switching photos with Zack. "Not good at all."

Gabrielle and Anthony exchanged worried looks and there was a noticeable change in demeanor amongst the adults. Zack and Alec's jaws tightened and a hard glint shone in their eyes, whereas Max and Becky stood stiffly, muscles tensed and shoulders set resolutely. The temperature in the room seemed to drop to an icy chill. "Why?" Anthony asked.

"They're probably mercenaries," Zack replied.

"These countries, among others in Europe, have had a consistent history of hiring out their soldiers to whomever wants to pay up post-Pulse," Alec explained. "I remember back in '17, Uncle Biggs, Aunt Sasha, and our unit were sent into Bosnia to help pull some of our ordinary troops out of the latest local mess. It turned out that the militia group that had trapped our people and the locals that our guys had been trying to assist had somehow found the cash to hire soldiers from Romania to come in and give them a hand. Didn't do them much good since in the end me and my crew wiped the floor with them."

Gabrielle quickly put the pieces together in her head. "...and you think that whomever is behind the disappearance of second-generation transgenics have brought these guys in to do the dirty work for them?"

"It seems like the most likely scenario that I can think of," Becky confirmed. "I haven't run it by anybody back in Terminal City yet. I wanted to let you guys know about it first."

"Makes sense," Max said thoughtfully. "It explains at least somewhat why our kids were taken. I mean, these people have the training and if they have enough numbers out of sight out of mind to the children, they could have overwhelmed them." She shook her head. "The dealio doesn't entirely feel right, though. I feel like there's something that we're still missing."

"They have to have some idea as to how we operate," Zack commented. "What our abilities are. They must have an in somewhere."

Anthony looked skeptical. "Okay, I know that I don't have the same level of training and real-world experience that you guys do, but isn't that kind of far-fetched? We all seem to be pretty damn loyal to each other. I know that I would never sell out another transgenic. Besides, wouldn't they know what the consequences would be if they had the balls to pull something like that off?"

"Trust me, we have had our own people turn on us before," Alec said grimly. _Brandi...Cam...damn you both, wherever you are._ "Though not quite to this scale. While I do agree with you that the odds are close to snowball's chance in hell, I wouldn't throw out the idea entirely."

"Let's keep it way at the back and focus on the more plausible scenarios," Max suggested. She reached into her purse and pulled out her cell phone. "I'm going to call some more of our peeps and organize a meeting back in T.C. We need to get our brains together and figure out what's going down."

"Sounds like a plan to me," Becky agreed.

"Do you want us to come with you?" Gabrielle spoke up. "Or should we stay back here?"

Alec exchanged a quick look with Max and Zack. "If you want to come with us so that you can stay in the loop, go right ahead. You know, that might not be such a bad idea, having the older second gen-ers in on meetings like these."

Max nodded in agreement. "Good one."

"What are we waiting for?" Zack walked back to the door and opened it. "Let's get going."

TBC


	14. Chapter 10

**Nightmares Redux -- Chapter 10**

**Disclaimer:** The TV show Dark Angel, all of the characters that appeared on it (Max, Zack, Alec, etc.), and everything else that has to do with the show belong to their respective owners, not to me. No money is being made off of this fic. I only own the original characters (Becky/X6-405, etc.).

**Notes:** Special thanks to Shay for her help with this chapter!

"I am so happy to get out of the house," Gabrielle confessed to Anthony the following day as the two of them strolled through a park. "I'm starting to go insane."

"You're only starting to go nuts?" Anthony teased.

Gabrielle pretended to throw a punch at her boyfriend, but she laughed. "Look who's talking, Tony. You're only a hair from the men holding the straightjacket and tazers yourself."

"You wish," Anthony said. They both snickered before he put his arm around Gabrielle's shoulders. "It is nice to be getting some fresh air, though."

"Tell me about it," Gabrielle agreed. "The twins are so lucky that they're most of the way down the Pacific coast where it's still about as safe as it gets for somebody like us. They can walk around whenever they want, go to the beach whenever they want...I'd love to go to a beach where I don't have to worry about stepping on something that only somebody like Uncle Wayne can identify. At least in southern California they clean most of their beaches."

"Are you telling me that you're getting stir crazy to the point that you'd voluntarily go swimming?" Anthony questioned.

"Almost," Gabrielle said. "I'd more like to sunbathe." She made a face. "You'd think, though, that the scientists who whipped up our parents and everybody else would have somehow eliminated the need for sunblock for everybody, but no."

"But then I wouldn't have the opportunity to rub sunscreen all over you," Anthony leered.

"Number one: you're pretty much a pervert," Gabrielle pointed out. "Number two: the summer's just about over and I might still be starting school again sometime in the near future. Can you find a good time to go to a half-decent beach?"

"Excuse to visit your brothers down at school on your first break?" Anthony suggested.

Gabrielle snorted. "Good idea, but Derek and Jordan probably won't stop giving me grief about it. It'll be nothing but 'ooooh, Gabby's turning into a girly-girl' until I go back home."

"That sounds like something they'd say," Anthony agreed. He paused to look at one of the other couples walking along the paths. "They don't exactly look all that happy."

"Please don't tell me that you're going to eavesdrop on them," Gabrielle muttered.

"I won't." Anthony grinned when he saw the skeptical look on his girlfriend's face. "Gabby, chill out. I promise I won't eavesdrop on them. Besides, it looks like it's not going to be that much longer until they're going to be loud enough for us to hear them anyway."

"You are impossible."

"I know."

"I'm armed."

"So am I."

"You're such a bastard."

"You love it."

Gabrielle pretended to be annoyed for a few moments longer before she laughed. "I do."

* * *

Sasha retrieved a binder off of a shelf in the Terminal City control room and handed it to Dix, who was seated at his usual computer terminal, before sighing. "If there was something that could end this right here and now, I'd shoot almost anybody to get my hands on it."

"You used to be a sniper, princess," Mole commented. "That's not much of a stretch."

"Gee, I thought you only used that nickname for Alec," Sasha said. She smiled sweetly. "Why don't you go over to the medical center so that you can get some happy pills for your coffee?" The smile turned into a smirk when Mole flipped Sasha the middle finger. "Yeah, I love you, too. Seriously, head over to the armory and check our automatic weapon supply. The guns that had been jamming were supposedly fixed last night, but I want them double-checked."

"Gotcha," Mole replied before he left the room.

"That's something covered," Sasha remarked. She turned around to face Zack, who was looking at her. "Bored, Zack?"

"No," Zack said. The corner of his mouth twitched, but he said nothing.

The smirk returned to Sasha's face. "Is somebody not happy that Max put me in charge here during this shift and not you?"

"You are almost as irritating as your sister, do you know that?" Zack muttered.

"I've been told." Sasha looked at the other X5 curiously. "Seriously, Zack, are you ticked?"

Zack shook his head. "No, I'm not. Max had valid reasons for putting you in charge right now and I agree with every one of them. I trust her judgment."

"But your alpha male C.O. thing just won't let you stay still," Sasha guessed. "It's cool. Alec got a little twitchy when Max told him about today's assignments here. Listen, I do need somebody to go out and check on all our groups out on perimeter guard. I need full reports from all teams. Would you like to do that for me?"

"Sure," Zack agreed. "Thank you."

"You handled him well," Luke observed once Zack had gone outside.

"I wasn't third-in-command of the entire Seattle group for nothing," Sasha replied. She walked over to another desk and smiled at the woman sitting there. "How are those intelligence reports coming, Ralph?"

"They're coming," Ralph commented dryly. "I'm almost done compiling everything, but it's been slow going. I wish I was with Kyle and the boys right now."

"Let them have their guys day," Sasha said. "Don't worry, whoever's going after all the second gen-ers wouldn't have the sack to go after them when a parent's with them. At least, they haven't been dumb enough to try that yet. Here's hoping they don't grow balls." She shrugged. "If they do, I'd be more than happy to grab them and shove them right down their collective throat."

"They should spend a day with all five of my sons," Ralph laughed. "It drives me up the wall sometimes, and I love them with all my heart."

"I feel sorry for Brendan," Sasha commented as she picked up a sheaf of papers and flipped through them. "To not only be the middle child, but to be surrounded by a set of twins on either side? Ouch."

Ralph grinned. "Your son doesn't exactly have it easy, either. I've heard about how your girls would gang up on him when they were younger."

"True, but Tony was always a phone call away when Mitch needed backup," Sasha pointed out. "Those gu---"

"Report coming in from our contact in the FBI office in San Francisco," Ralph interrupted, her eyes dancing over the e-mail that she'd just opened up on her computer. "They've spotted some men sporting the same patches as the mercenaries here in Seattle."

Sasha frowned. "They're moving south?"

"Looks that way," Ralph agreed as she continued to scan the e-mail. "Downloading attachments now." The X6 frowned. "Should we notify Max and Zack yet? Their boys are in California."

"Not yet," Sasha said after a few moments of thought. "Derek and Jordan are in the Los Angeles area and all indications are that region is still safe. I'll fill Zack in when he comes back from getting those reports from our people out on the perimeter." She paused, thinking of her own twins. _Jade and Julia should still be out at work...I should check in with them, but they should be okay for the moment._ "Keep your eyes peeled and forward that e-mail to Dix so that he has a copy as backup."

"Sasha, we might have something," Dix spoke up.

"Give me the details," the X5 said immediately.

"Small group of people in civilian dress, but they're clearly pros," Dix replied. "They're converging in on a pair of adults. The footage that I'm getting from the security cam is pretty weak, so I can't get any positive visual identifications."

"Where?"

"Pine Road Park."

* * *

"Now, what should we do?" Anthony teased.

Gabrielle smirked. "Do you really have to ask that question, Tony?" She grinned and started to pull him in for a kiss, but paused when his lips were only a hair from hers. Gabrielle lowered her voice so that only the two of them could hear her. "Are you hearing what I am?"

"Yeah," Anthony agreed. "It doesn't sound like a tourist group or anything." As discreetly as possible, he zoomed in over Gabrielle's shoulder and managed to hold back a curse. "They're gonna make a grab. Do you see anybody on the other side?"

"Nobody directly in front of me, but I see people on either side out of the corner of my eyes," Gabrielle replied. "We're surrounded on three of four sides, and they're armed." She frowned. _That smell...I can barely make it out...damn, I know it from somewhere._

"We don't have much time," Anthony murmured.

"They want to keep this on the down low? Let's change the rules," Gabrielle decided.

"Wait for my count..." Anthony said quietly. "5...4...3...2...1...now!"

* * *

"We have movement!" Luke said, alarmed. "Shots fired."

"Son-of-a-bitch," Sasha swore. "What the hell is going on?"

"Definitely looks like an attempted kidnapping," Dix confirmed. "Shots were fired at the targets, but they must have been tipped off somehow and hightailed it out of there."

"I want identifications on them now," Sasha ordered.

Dix shook his head. "They're moving so fast that I still can't get a good visual, but the potential victims appear to be one male, one female, and they're going at approximately X5 speed."

Sasha frowned. "Try to see if you can plot where they're going so we can try to send a team to meet them."

"Should we fill in our people out at the perimeter?" a male X6 sitting at another desk questioned. "Should Zack be recalled here?"

"No, Peyton," Sasha told him. "Call and let him know that there is a possible kidnapping attempt in progress and that he should make sure that our sentries are on full alert, but do _not_ tell Zack to report back to the control room." She knew full well what would happen if Zack were to return to the room. "We need him out there more than we do here."

"Yes, ma'am," Peyton replied.

"Luke, call the med center and have them on standby," Sasha instructed. "If we're lucky, we won't be needing them, but you never know."

"Got it," Luke said.

_Please, don't let us need them,_ Sasha prayed silently.

* * *

As soon as Anthony had finished counting down, he and Gabrielle almost flew out of the park, just missing the tranquilizer darts and bullets that would have wounded the two of them. They could hear people screaming and exchanged a quick glance as they tore down the street.

"I hope those people are okay," Gabrielle said breathlessly as she ran alongside her boyfriend.

"You and me both," Anthony agreed. He twisted his neck to look behind him and his eyes widened. When he saw a figure not only in pursuit, but gaining on the two of them as well. "Oh, fuck. Gabby..."

"Saw and heard him," Gabrielle said grimly after glancing backwards herself. "Nobody I know."

"That must be how they were getting the others," Anthony concluded.

"Well, they sure as hell won't be taking us," Gabrielle declared. "Scenic route?"

"You read my mind," Anthony confirmed and they turned a street corner and headed off in a different direction.

* * *

"We have at least one confirmed enemy in pursuit of our people," another anomaly reported. "Adult male, gaining on the targets."

"Back it up," Sasha said. "Our people are moving at X5 speed and this guy is _gaining_ on them?!"

"Confirmed," the anomaly repeated.

Sasha's eyes narrowed. "Has anybody calculated where the kids might be heading?"

"I got it, I think," Ralph replied. "Right here. They're taking a fairly complex route to try to lose their pursuit, but I'm calculating that they'll approach the north side with an ETA of ten minutes."

"Hold on a second," Dix spoke up. "I don't think our people are the only ones to try to make it here. I spotted people with the mercenary patches outside."

"How far?" Sasha asked.

"So far, three groups in different directions away from Terminal City," Dix informed her. "They're all approximately one mile from our perimeter. We're checking for more of them as we speak."

"Fuck, they're going to head right into this trap," Sasha swore. "Luke, Ralph, get in contact with any eights or top-rated sixes that are out in the area and have them move to intercept our people and bring them home safe. Dix, any luck identifying them?"

"Still working on it," he replied.

"What about the ETA of our people to the closest group of mercs?"

The anomaly winced. "Two minutes or less."

"We got in touch with some of our sixes and eights," Luke said. "They're at least two minutes away, though."

Sasha shook her head and moved over to where Peyton was signaling to her. She accepted the phone receiver that the X6 held out. "Yes, Sasha here."

"All sentries are on full alert," Zack informed her. "There's been no immediate sight of either mercenaries or our people."

"Good," Sasha said. "Stay with them and assist if necessary. I'll keep you updated." She hung up. "Please tell me that those two are getting help soon."

"No." Dix's frown became deeper. "But we think we've gotten an ID on the possible victims."

"Who are they?" Sasha asked. She walked over to Dix's station and narrowed her eyes at what she saw on the monitor. "Fuck..."

* * *

"He's still on our tails," Anthony said. "We're not shaking him off."

"As long as we can get to T.C. before he reaches us, we'll be okay," Gabrielle pointed out breathlessly. "Once we get there, he'll have his hands full with the sentries and won't have a chance."

Anthony started to nod, but hesitated upon zooming in up ahead and seeing the people standing around hiding weapons. "We might be the ones that don't have any kind of a chance."

"Not good," Gabrielle muttered.

"I'm not going without a fight," Anthony declared.

"Neither am I," Gabrielle agreed. "Good luck." The two transgenics ran straight for the mercenaries that were waiting for them, ducking and weaving when shots were fired at them. Gabrielle forced the sound of the screams of passersby to the back of her mind as she grabbed one merc by the arm and began to fight...

* * *

"They're not going to make it," Luke said worriedly.

"Oh, yes, they will," Sasha said fiercely, her eyes never leaving the monitor. "They will."

* * *

Anthony kicked one mercenary in the gut before he wrenched the gun out of the hand of another. "Somebody call..." he began to shout, but had to stop to duck a punch and knock down another enemy. "...the police."

"Yeah, try that," a merc sneered, firing shots into the crowd. His glee stopped when Gabrielle's roundhouse kick sent him flying back into a crowd of people.

"This is taking too long," Gabrielle muttered.

"They keep coming out of...shit, Gabby, behind you!" Anthony shouted. He could only watch, as he continued to fight off the mercenaries, as the mysterious man who had been chasing them rushed up to Gabrielle and despite how quickly she'd reacted to his warning, hit her hard enough to send her several feet back and knock the wind out of her. Time seemed to slow down as Anthony, still tied up with several enemies, watched helplessly as the mystery assailant pulled a gun on a still somewhat dazed Gabrielle, who was getting back up, and pulled the trigger multiple times. As he did, though, there was a blur and suddenly Anthony saw Gabrielle go down -- pinned down by the woman who had just taken the bullets instead.

"This is all that you call backup?" the man sneered in an accented voice. "You're pathetic." He aimed his gun once more at Gabrielle, only to have it shot out of his hand by Anthony. Anthony aimed again, but the other man was quicker and knocked both the gun and its owner to the ground. He quickly put one foot on Anthony's throat, pinning the younger man to the ground as he reached into his jacket and pulled out a second firearm.

"Boss, what should we do?" one of the mercs groaned as he managed to get to his feet.

The mystery man shook his head in disgust. "This is a total loss. Leave the girl alone, she's out of the fight. Let me kill the boy and we will report back to base." He snorted and looked down at Anthony in contempt. "I hope saving your friend was worth it, you piece of Manticore trash."

"Made there, not raised there," Anthony quipped. He managed to look the other man right in the eye. "But yeah, it was." Anthony felt a sense of peace wash over him and he smiled. _It really was worth it. Gabrielle's safe. That's all that matters. Gabby, I love you. So much..._

* * *

Gabrielle grunted as she fell down. Her dark eyes widened in horror as she immediately recognized the woman that had just been shot. _Oh, fuck! No!_ A noise just across the street brought Gabrielle's focus back into place and she heard Anthony get knocked down. As the mystery man spoke, Gabrielle frowned. _That accent's familiar...I know it from somewhere._ But the next words out of the man's mouth had Gabrielle frantically reaching out with her right hand. _You are not going to kill him. No damn way!_

* * *

"You have the nerve to smile?" the enemy said incredulously. He shrugged. "Oh, well. Enjoy hell."

"I'll make sure that your reservation will be ready for you," Anthony retorted. He closed his eyes and heard a gunshot...but felt no pain, just the pressure of the foot that had been against his throat released. The young transgenic heard a thump and opened his eyes to see his would-be killer on the ground, a bullet hole right through the middle of his neck, clearly dead. Anthony quickly picked himself up and ran over to Gabrielle, who was still holding the gun. He carefully helped his girlfriend from underneath the woman just as Riley and two X8s ran in.

"Oh my God," Riley murmured. She swore a blue streak and immediately began to help Anthony and Gabrielle with first aid. "Help from Terminal City is on the way even as we speak."

"Good," Gabrielle said as she held tightly over one of the bullet wounds.

"The mercs that were assisting that were still mobile took off," one of the X8s reported.

"Let them go, we have more important things to worry about," Riley instructed. "Hold tight, she's losing a lot of blood fast."

"Any of you have a transfusion kit with you?" Gabrielle asked.

The other X8 shook her head. "Sorry. We don't."

"Damnit," Anthony muttered. He reached over and felt the side of the woman's neck. "Her pulse is pretty weak."

"Good thing that the cavalry is here," Riley commented as an ambulance screeched to a stop at the scene and several transgenic medics jumped out of the back.

"The police have already been notified," the lead medic reported. "Just take the kids directly to Terminal City. A car was parked for you a block down. We've got things here."

Riley nodded. "Gotcha." She gently pulled Gabrielle and Anthony away as the medics went to work on the victim. "Come with me." When Gabrielle hesitated, Riley put a hand on her shoulder. "Gabby, it'll be okay. They know what they're doing."

"I know they do," Gabrielle said, fighting to keep her voice from shaking. "I just hope that this won't be the last time that I see her alive."

* * *

Sasha tried to shake off the sense of stunned disbelief as she watched Riley and the two X8s finally arrive on the scene. "Medics dispatched?"

"Almost at the scene," Dix reported.

"Good," Sasha said. She bit her lip.

"Sasha?" Ralph spoke up timidly. Sasha looked over to see the younger woman's face drained of color, but she knew it had more to do with what they'd seen than any kind of nerves. "Should I notify Zack?"

The X5 shook her head. "No. I'll inform him. You know who you have to call."

Ralph nodded. "Yes, ma'am." Sasha watched her for a few moments before taking out her cell phone and dialing Zack's number.

"Zack," she said quietly. "It's me. Gabrielle was one of the two transgenics that they tried to kidnap. Anthony was the other." She took a deep breath, steeling herself for a bad reaction. "Gabrielle's okay, they both are, but Becky..."

TBC


End file.
